


To Serve Mankind

by redeem147



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Gen, Religions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-09
Updated: 2011-08-09
Packaged: 2017-10-22 11:02:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/237373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redeem147/pseuds/redeem147
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years after season six Buffy finds someone she didn't expect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Serve Mankind

It was good to see Xander again. In high school, it had seemed they would be together forever. Even after. They had drifted apart after he moved to Phoenix. Christmas cards told her he was successful in his construction firm. Added signatures over the years meant he had finally found a loving family. She’d been glad.

 

The older she grew, the truer the old agage became - she only saw the people she cared about at weddings and funerals. There had been few enough weddings. It was an evening visitation, of course. The evening funeral would be tomorrow. Hard to watch Angel cry. Queen Cordelia lay on the satin, surrounded with flowers. Still beautiful. The young man supporting Angel looked older than his father. Connor.

 

Twenty years could make such a difference. Angel would be eternally young. She passed a mirror in the foyer, stopped to tuck a stray grey hair behind her ear. She was too thin, and the years of slaying showed in the lines around her eyes, around her mouth. The oldest of any Slayer, ever. She should be in a museum. Preserved for posterity, like Cordy in the box.

 

The room held an assortment of demons and humans. Angel had made so many friends. A green skinned demon touched his eyes with a handkerchief. A middle-aged couple supported each other, a thin white woman and a still muscular African American man. Xander was standing in front of the coffin, saying goodbye. She walked over and stood beside him. Put her hand on his arm. “Hey.”

 

“Hey,” he replied. “We shouldn’t be meeting like this.”

 

“No,” she sighed. “Not like this.” She saw Angel standing beside her and took his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

 

“Thank you.” He was staring at the face of his love, her vibrance forever stilled. “She was too young.”

 

“I know.”

 

A black clad man came over to Angel, and put his hand on his shoulder. “We have some things to go over. The service tomorrow night.”

 

The voice was so familiar. Buffy turned to look at the sandy-haired young priest. Her eyes grew wide. “Spike?”

 

“Hello, Buffy.” He turned to Angel. “You never told her?”

 

“You asked me not to.”

 

“You’re a good friend.” He realized Buffy was still staring. “I guess you’d like to talk.”

 

*****

 

They sat together in the basement lounge, Buffy clasping a cup of coffee. She didn’t drink it. He looked the same. He looked so different. “I don’t understand. When you never came back, I just thought, well, that you’d found another life.”

 

“I did.” He fingered the cross hanging on his chest. “Behind my back, they call me the demon priest. The Vatican knows what I am. I’m the big anomily; the vampire with a soul. Well, one of two.”

 

“A soul?” She shook her head. “How?”

 

“When I did...what I did, all those years ago, I knew I would never be good enough for you. That I was beneath you. I couldn’t stand it. I’d heard about a creature, in Africa, that could grant your fondest wish, for a price.” A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “So, I asked for a soul. So you could love me, just like you loved Angel.”

 

“For me? You did that for me?” She searched his face. “But you never came back.”

 

“Because I realized what I was. A monster. And I knew that even if I was right, that you did love me...” he put his hand on hers. “No, don’t say it. I knew that I was bad for you. Bad for the world. I walked out into the sun, one morning not long after. An old priest saw me, threw a blanket over me. He told me that one such as I who was so full of remorse must have a higher purpose. I found it in the church.”

 

“But that doesn’t make sense. Crosses. Holy Water.”

 

“Burned me. I considered it my penance. I let them burn. Even the host.” He signed. “Eventually, I decided to take holy orders. Figured that would kill me. But something changed, the moment of my ordination. Oh, I’m still a vampire. Still need more than just the blood of our Lord to survive. But none of this, of these symbols, these elements, hurt me any more. They’re my solace.”

 

“It’s all in your head.”

 

“Maybe. Maybe not, though. I think not.” He smiled, wider now. “I found my place. I found my calling. I help people, Buffy. I help them find forgiveness. I help them find hope.”

 

A young man entered the room. “Father Demetrius? Your secretary just called. Mrs. Flannigan is at the rectory. Her husband beat her up again. She’s asking for you.”

 

“I’ll be right there.” He rose, taking Buffy’s hand. “I have to go. That poor woman. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He hurried out the door.

 

Buffy watched him leave. She’d thought he’d left her, like all the others. She realized he hadn’t run away; he’d run towards something. Something she’d never find. She pulled herself up off the couch. Picked up her purse. Felt the wooden stake though the fabric.

 

She walked back into the visitation room, to find her friends.


End file.
